When I first found some fairy-tales redone into M/M books I was hooked. But with time I discovered that most of these books focus on mostly the same fairy-tale themes. There’s the immortal Cinderella story, the Beauty and the Beast, and a few others. There are so many fairy-tales out there with so much potential. So I decided to write the books myself.
With that thought in mind I wanted to focus on some of my favourite fairy-tales, the ones I grew up on. These would be the traditional Middle- and Eastern-European fairy-tales. While The Prince and the Frog is not my all-times favourite story it is in the lead.
Writing the book, I consulted my childhood storybooks. The Prince and the Frog is a popular fairy-tale and I knew both the Polish and Russian version of it. I included elements of both but I also added some things of my own. The result is hopefully enjoyable one.
The fairy-tale world I created is a mix of historical and fantasy ones. While magic is an obvious indication of fantasy there are many elements that hail from the real world and are based in historical times.
The Magical Academy is very loosely based on European Universities and Academies of late middle ages. I did not include many details and because it is a magical institution most of the ones that I did include is made up but I hoped to convey the general feel of those Schools of old.
One of the things that are based mostly in real world are the subjects of three tests.
Even though my book is based on a fairy tale I also wanted it to feel as authentic a story as it could. Because of that I thought there needed to be a valid reason for the three tests the Frog in the fairy tale faces. I didn’t think “Because the King fancies so” was a valid reason. (King Aleksiey didn’t seem like the kind of father who’d force something like that on his sons, even though he does like to send them on dangerous quests.) I decided to reach to a custom that I’ve known of for a long time.
The witnessing of the marriage consummation was a tradition applying to royal and sometimes noble marriages. It was exactly what it sounds. Some people stayed in the bedroom of the newly-wed couple to bear witness to the consummation of marriage. As the consummation was often a legal requirement for the marriage to be considered valid, the custom could prevent future trouble.
Just look at Henry the VIII. His first wife, Catharine of Aragon had first been intended as his older brother’s wife and betrothed to him. After the older prince had died Henry and his father went to a lot of trouble to ensure that marriage be considered invalid. (It would be impossible for Henry to marry his brother’s wife, it was forbidden) So Henry the VII, wanting to ensure an alliance with Spain, made sure that the previous relationship of Catherine was annulled and she was available to marry his younger son, future Henry the VIII. However, after many years of prosperous marriage, when Catherine failed to give Henry a male heir, the king did what? Yes, you guessed it, he tried to have his marriage annulled as well. It didn’t work to his favour as the pope at the time was Catharine’s relative, thus Henry’s later split from the Catholic Church.
The point I’m trying to make is that the witnessing of the marriage consummation could save a lot of trouble in situations like this. But like I said, it was a custom reserved for royalty and sometimes, nobility. For that reason I thought it believable that when king Aleksiey decided to marry a merchant’s daughter, a woman of a very strong character, she wouldn’t be amused by having to have witnesses to her wedding night. King Aleksiey and Queen Ekaterina seemed like a couple who’d move heaven and earth to get what they wanted and so I thought they’d have made sure the custom was abolished. But tradition is something that cannot be discounted lightly and neither can politics. I’m certain making such a big change couldn’t have been easy and there would have to be some concessions. Hence the three trials...
In my book the three tests get symbolical meanings, as I’m sure would happen in such circumstances. The princes’ spouses must prove their worth. In the situations I depicted baking a cake is supposed to show their devotion and ability to take care of their husbands basic needs (something like providing food for your family – the very basic way to prove you can take care of that family). Second test in the fairy tale was to weave a carpet. I thought it was an extension of the first test, to show you can take care of more sublime needs of your spouse (Provide food, then shelter). Then there was the third test of attending a ball. This one seemed obvious enough. A member of royal family had to be able to find themselves in any social situation. A ball where members of each social class were invited would be a great test of those skills.
Concentrating on the tests I decided to add some authenticity to them. Princess Nasha cannot bake, she had been catered to her entire life, she had no time to learn how to cook. Prince Colia’s husband and wife come from a Northern Tribe, and they led a very different lives, prior to meeting Nicolai.
And here we come to the fascinating element of real world in my book. Vil and Kunney belong to a Northern Tribe. I based that tribe on one of the peoples inhabiting Siberia. Since the kingdom where Ivan and his brothers are from is mostly based on old time Russia, it seemed obvious that going North would more or less lead Colia to Siberian Tribes. The tribe I chose as a focus for where Vil and Kunney came from are Sakha people or Yakuts. Kunney is an actual female name from their language and means sun-moon it is also a mythological hero’s name. Vil, I believe, is also a word from sakha language. I encountered it while doing research on some of yakut traditions, but for the life of me I cannot find the webpage now. If I remeber correctly the word is supposed to be a name of a fish, either salmon or trout.
When it comes to the tests, what Vil and Kunney present are actual elements of Sakha culture.
Salamat is a creamy sour porridge made of cream, wheat, butter and salt. Usually eaten on feast days. It seemed like the best equivalent of a cake.
Colia also mentions a dish of a frozen fish that he had been offered in his spouses’ tribe. The real dish is stroganina - raw, thin, long-sliced shavings of frozen fish.
In the second test, when the contestants are asked to weave carpets, Kunney and Vil present some uniquely made fur rugs. Once again it is a real tradition. There are historical depictions of those checked fur rugs, like this woodcut:
The culture of Yakuts (Sakha) is an altogether fascinating subject. Here are some links if you wanted to know a bit more about it:
http://www.cosmicelk.net/Yakutia16c.htm
http://primitiverug.com/journal/yakut-pieced-skin-primitive-rug
http://travelingyourdream.com/?page_id=1596
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3735993/The-wolf-hunters-Siberia-Incredible-pictures-battle-reindeer-herders-super-packs-predators.html
http://www.biligbitig.com/2014/07/saka-turkleri-sakha.html
The elements of Sakha culture are not the only real-world/historical thing that inspired me. In the book Vasya uses his personal experiences in the king’s challenges. These are also based on real things. This time I drew from Slavic traditions.
Kolach the special cake Vasya bakes for the first test is actually exactly what it is described as in the book. A traditional kind of sweet bread mostly served during big celebrations. In pagan times it was reserved for ritualistic purposes but with time it got adapted and was mostly used during wedding or birth celebrations. Even now it is a tradition in Poland (where i’m from) and I believe other Slavic countries as well, that a newly wed couple is greeted by their parents with bread and salt (and more often than not, vodka). Also during various religious celebrations there are beautifully decorated breads being blessed with holy water. These breads are often made by braiding the dough and are in a shape of a circle. The name kolach is derived from the word koło – circle. There is even a saying in Polish – “Bez pracy nie ma kołaczy” – literally meaning – “Without work there will be no kolaches.” So it is easy to see how important a part of slavic culture kolach actually is.
A picture of kolach from wikipedia Here’s a picture I took last year at my cousin's wedding. It is a decorated sourdough bread.
In the second test Vasya weaves an arras depicting his first meeting with Ivan. As an inspiration I used real arrases from the Royal castle of Wawel. Especially this one:
You can read more about Wawel arrases here: http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=22
and some other links: http://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Jagiellonian%20tapestries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagiellonian_tapestries
www.fibtex.lodz.pl/2005/6/85.pdf
Despite now living in UK I am and have always been very proud of my country. Poland has a very colorful history and a lot of interesting traditions. Writing “The Prince and the Frog” I dug into some of those traditions. after kolach and Jagiellonian arrases, another unmistakably Polish element in the book is Vasya’s mage robe. While I admit many authors write about wizards wearing robes Vasya’s is a bit different. The main difference is the long row of small buttons Ivan has trouble undoing. (Poor Ivan
)
That robe is based on żupan and kontusz. Żupan is a kind of long garment, always
lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the
16th to half of the 18th century. Kontusz is an outer garment worn over the
inner garment żupan. Kontusz was a long robe, usually reaching to below the
knees, with a set of decorative buttons down the front. The sleeves were long
and loose, on hot days worn untied, thrown on the back. In winter a fur lining
could be attached to the kontusz, or a delia worn over it. The kontusz was
usually of a vivid colour, and the lining was of a contrasting hue. The kontusz
was tied with a long, wide sash called a pas kontuszowy. The kontusz was more of
a decorative garment than a useful one. Polish nobles of the time had a very distinctive culture a main part of which was Sarmatism. Wikipedia has a pretty good article about it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatism) Here are some pictures of Żupans and kontushe so you can have a better idea of what I imagined Vasya wearing. (and links to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kontusz; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBupan)
Last but not least, there’s another element of Slavic beliefs that I inserted in the book. It fit so perfectly with the fairy-tale that I couldn’t not add it. I mean the fate-magic. It is not called that in original Slavic culture. It doesn’t really have a name, at least not that I know of. It is simply a belief that your words and wishes might come true if you speak them in a bad hour. There’s a lot I could write about it but I’ll keep it for the second book in the series which is based entirely on this belief. I only introduced it in The Prince and the Frog to give you a taste of it.
I believe that’s most of what I wanted to share with you about the book. The last little bit is in a form of a video. Just so you can see for yourself how vicious the herbivorous hare can be.
Have fun watching it!
